Friday, 31 October 2014

We can talk about it later, we have all the time. Why do you want to spoil the day? he asked while answering the question - I think you like being melodramatic.

She was enraged, melodramatic was a strong word. He was as calm as still waters as if he did not say anything offensive. From the very beginning, it was impossible for her to read his mind. For her who could read anyone's mind within a span of few seconds, her sense was turned blind when he was the one. His face never invited her judgement, it was non conditional feeling that numbed her mind.

I do not ask anything other than a yes or a no, she said while looking right in his eyes.

He was quite, his eyes did not reveal anything. After a long uncomfortable silence, he said, saying either is not as simple as it sounds.

She left with a broken heart and managed to hide her tears. She did not want to explain to him the basic concept of love. She hoped to be wanted by him, not as a person who can make his day but as a companion who could sweep him away.

Author's Note: Love is not complicated, people are.

P.S.: It is okay to get your heart broken, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find that prince charming. (wink)

Tuesday, 21 October 2014

A 10 year old girl discovered smog for the first time. It was the day after Diwali, when her mom was cleaning the terrace that was mauled by crackers. Welcoming the advent of winters – she announced to her mom that the fog has come. Her mom, not so enthusiastically, told her that it is not fog – it is smog! Looking at question in her eyes – what is smog?, her mom continued telling her that it is the product of pollution that comes from crackers that people burst during Diwali. The 10 year old was not excited anymore. She looked closely at the layer of smog. It appeared like a black mass resting between the sky and earth. It looked beautifully calm, but it was the calmness that was haunting! Like a predator, moving slowly towards a prey. And till the time the prey realizes that, it is dead!

After that day she did not burst crackers. The haunting image of smog appeared in front of her.

Now there is something doing rounds on social media – against an annoying pretentious friend who insists on a plain and silent Deepawali! Check it here >>

The claims made by this message include the following and I bring to you my opinion about the message that is being extensively shared by people who enjoy bursting crackers.

1. The major source of pollution - vehicles and industries burning fossil fuels. Hits the nail on the spot. That is why renewable energy is being so talked about. That is why carbon credits exist. That is why we protest deforestation.

2. Even smoking a cigarette is much bigger source of pollution
If cigarette haunts you so much, then during Diwali a non smoker inhales smoke that is equivalent to 100 sticks.

3. The deadly CFC gases from the ACs these leftists pseudo-intellectuals put in their comfy rooms. Can we live without ACs? Climate change is inevitable – the only possibility is to delay it by being responsible towards environment. Rather than using ACs in all the rooms, use AC in just one room, keep the temperature between 22 to 24 and stuff.

4. Mere 1 day's worth of air-travel in the world produces much more deadly pollution that a Diwali celebration that we observe just once a year.
Exhausts out of an Aero-plane are under checks – exhausts out of crackers are not!

5. We're silently suffering million times more pollution then we shouldn't complain about something insignificant in comparison. As long as people do it in moderation, and enjoy it no one should have a problem.
It could appear insignificant to those who do not suffer. An asthmatic person suffers and while the regulated industrial limit does not seem to kill a lung patient, crackers bursted on the Diwali day do! Who keeps a check on moderation? We do not have any regulations to limit using crackers?

Author's Note: Please do not pick a better wrong out of many wrongs. Celebrate plain and simple Diwali. Celebrations must not encourage damaging the environment.

Friday, 17 October 2014

This year saw several woman centric movies. Some struggled at the box office and were off the cineplexes in a jiffy (Gulab Gang, Bobby Jasoos, Revolver Rani), while others managed to garner rave reviews (Highway, Mary Kom, Mardani). For me this year belonged to Queen.

What I loved about this movie was that it was such a simple story made with sheer honesty. A perfect blend of emotions, fun, and serious messages said in a moderate tone. Never did I feel it was trying to preach anything yet it left a great impact. While many of you may have different memories from the movie, I personally have kept a few with me. Forever.

Go on a trip alone: Rani, the protagonist, decides to go for her honeymoon all by herself. To many of us it may seem bizarre but that’s what we all need – a trip alone. Being a woman, especially in India, we all are warned even to think of travelling alone. No matter how liberal our parents are. ‘Akeli ladki’ (Lone woman) are just some words that have been haunting us for ages. All we end up doing is calling up a bunch of disinterested friends who have unending excuses.

Make your backpack your companion. Whether going through a tough phase or not – just head out!

Let first impressions not impair your judgments: During her trip to Paris and Amsterdam Rani meets and befriends new people. Not only she gets close to people from different cultural backgrounds but makes new ‘male’ friends – something she would have never thought of.

At times we are quick to form an opinion about a new person. Our actions are ruled by what we think of that person. But we forget it’s not always the time that decides how well we know someone.

Don’t wash dirty linen in public: There’s just one instance when Rani gets sloshed in Paris and bares her heart out to Vijaylaxmi. However, when her friends in Amsterdam get into a brawl with her ex/fiancé, she clearly tells them to stay out.

No matter how much damage a person does to your feelings, it’s more dignified when you choose not to humiliate or try giving them a dosage of their own medicine in front of others. Respect is something that can elevate or tear someone apart with equal intensity.

Unleash the wild within you: Rani is a naïve girl, who even after being in a relationship is shown to have never French-kissed. She meets a stranger,Marcello, in Amsterdam and accepts his challenge to prove Indian style of kissing is the best by kissing him. She goes out to night-clubs and dances her heart out – something her fiancé had forbidden her from indulging in.

It’s sometimes good to let your hair down and just have a good time. The point made is not getting intimate with a stranger. That’s at your own discretion! ;)

Give your passion a chance: Thanks to Marcello that Rani gets to explore her hidden culinary skills and impresses the visitors at a fair with her desi Indian snack – GolGuppa. At first what it seemed as a failure, turns out a huge hit among the foreigners.

There’s no such thing as the perfect time to do what you like doing. It’s therapeutic when you want to break from the mundane.

The movie holds a special place in my heart. For starters: It’s my first movie alone in a theatre! Being a person conscious of the way I conduct myself in public (well, most of the times), the thought of watching a movie and reacting emotionally, all by myself, was nerve-racking. What if the stranger sitting next to you thinks you’re a retard? For me movie-watching is an experience that’s best enjoyed in the company of others. That’s just my personal viewpoint. I need another post to state the reasons. Anyway, thanks to a friend who ditched me at the last moment – for vaild professional reasons, of course (obviously I would never buy a ticket for just myself in the first place), I got to enjoy a wonderful piece of cinema, irrespective of who sat beside me that day.

As Rani took her final majestic walk after meeting her fiancé in the end, that’s how I felt on my way back after watching the movie – in my own little way with my own little achievement!

Author's Note: I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Shine for sharing her space on the blog with me and, most importantly, for encouraging me to write a blog post after ages.

P.S.: Thank you Anupriya! I hope you be a recipient of happy hospitality on my blog. You deserve a double thank you - for writing the post and helping with quite a few images - that makes me want to visit the movie again.

Sunday, 5 October 2014

To me bashing any piece of creativity is unjustified, be it fatwa against Salman Rushdie for his work, censor board's stalling Deepa Mehta's Fire, or Tweeples talking #BoycottHaider. Just for the records the movie garnered 8.9 IMBD rating and people in my circle, who have watched the movie, have liked it. So to me all that criticism and Boycott talk is coming from people who have boycotted it already - most of the participants in the #BoycottHaider drive have not even watched the movie!

Here is my observation about the claims made on Twitter. I will refrain from sharing the story line, but I will pick up points that you will be able to relate with once you watch it!

1. The story is about the struggles of a Muslim family. It shows that Muslims in Kashmir are vulnerable, the ones who spread violence are those who are across the border. They mislead youth and use them as a tool to spread disharmony in India. People follow the wrong path for a
reason - mostly for sentiments not for big ideologies.

2. I do not see Army's role is not in a wrong light - it shows that Army is no clairvoyant - they go via the messenger route. The movie indicates that Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) is a draconian law, and if you do a little google search you will find reasons why is it called as a tool of state abuse, oppression and discrimination. Even UN has stated that AFSPA is against international law. The act is applied in the state of Kashmir and North East to protect India from terrorists, but any law - like Dowry Law or Rape Law - is susceptible to misuse. Irom Sharmila has been on a hunger strike from 2000 to get this act out. She has been fed through a pipe attached to her nose. So there are protests against AFSPA for quite a long time - the movie in fact brings this to light.

3. It does not in any way bring Kashmiri pandit into the picture. No talk about Hinduism. The movie is not about them. It is about the struggles parents of Muslim who do
not want their kids to fall in the trap of terrorism. Parents who want their kids to move out in other parts of India and experience real freedom.

4. The movie reminds that plebiscite for People of Kashmir was promised by Pt Nehru. The issue has been raised time and again - shows that politicians should not deliver big speeches if they cannot stand upto it, it creates resentment. There is a scene in the movie - that indicated that it is not about freedom of Kashmir but about slavery from across the border.

5. Haider, he was not a hero, but a protagonist, fighting complexities of loss, betrayal and revenge!

Author's Note: Why does a piece of art haunt people? It is just an opinion, and not a holy book!Listening to the other side of the story only makes you human. Young Muslims in Kashmir are being misled by an organised set of terrorists. #HaiderTrueCinema. The movie is based on facts!